Photos: Teams tune up for 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge

Fifty-three teams are preparing for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Urban Challenge, a $2 million military-sponsored race of autonomous vehicles on city roads that's set for November 3.

DARPA's 2005 Grand Challenge was a 132-mile Nevada desert race of autonomous vehicles. This year's Challenge is focused on urban operations--navigating a four-way intersection, performing pretty involved street driving moves--all without a human operator. How much time, manpower, equipment, research and programming does it take to teach a car how to drive itself? Read the story.

Seriously though, check out the boots on that dude from the Arizona team. They're hotter than a scorpion on an overclocked processor.